Running of the Brides: Part 5

I cannot believe that this ROTB series has gone this far but yet here we are at part 5. We leave tomorrow morning at 8am CST (9EST = ATL Filene's Basement time). We plan on getting to Atlanta around 11:30am or so and hopefully checking into the hotel so we can drop off our "game day gear". It's shocking how much stuff like bags and clothes can weigh you down. I hope to be one of the first ones in line but you never can tell. My car is half way packed as of this moment with the sleeping bags, cooler, little table, and chair. My dad is prepping the tent for us tonight and we will pick it up after dinner. He is having to pack it up since his pet deer, Honey, decided she wanted it more than me when I tried to pack it up on Monday.

UPDATE: Now I'm home with two extra people in tow. MOH Court and Mermaid are settling into their rooms as I write this post. After a quick dinner at a local Mexican joint, we swung by Target to pick up some snacks and trashy magazines to keep us entertained. We plan on getting up pretty early in order to get to Atlanta before lunch so we're about to hit the sack. The next time I post on here I will hopefully (fingers crossed) have my wedding dress! Thank you for all your support in this venture. It has certainly been a wild ride and so worth it!

Reality vs. Real World

As I sit here watching The Bachelor, biting my nails waiting to see the results, I can't help but feel like the luckiest girl in the world. Yes I watch trash TV but in my defense the Bachelor is the only reality show I watch besides Top Chef.

Source

I enjoy the shows and the whole drama of them, even had a close friend that was supposed to be on this season that's ending tonight. But watching these shows makes me eternally thankful for Philip and the man he is to me. He is the answer to so many prayers. He came into my life when we as a family were going through a hard time. My step-brother, York, who is only 3 months older than me (and he's also single ladies), left for Iraq the month after Philip and I started dating. Now being that York is only 3 months older than me is very cool. But what's even cooler is the fact that we've been brother and sister since we were 5 years old. We've grown up together and don't even call each other "step"-brother or sister. Now I'm happy to report that York is home now and he is about to be home, in Alabama, for good at the end of April.

York's Graduation from Boot Camp, July 25th 2008, one day after his 21st birthday.

During his 2 weeks home from Iraq in 2009

Saying goodbye for the last time.

And if that wasn't enough, last summer my baby brother, Eli, started having seizures. They started happening when he got over heated and the doctors thought it was related to that but now they have diagnosed him with Complex Migraines. So far he has had four seizures, one of them being a Grand Mal seizure. For a 7 year old to be told he can't have caffeine, can't run around a get hot, has to just calm down, is really hard to understand. Eli has done great taking his medicine and letting us know when he is starting to have an episode. Philip was with me every time in the ER. All three times! Well the actual 3rd time Eli had a seizure was the morning after Philip and I got engaged and we were out of town so we weren't there and that killed me. Every time Eli wakes up he is his same old self and so happy to see us. We love our E-man and are so happy that he's going to be a part of our special day. Philip loves my family so much and they love him too and that makes him even more perfect!

Philip and Eli at the beach

What real life struggles have helped you know that he was the one?

Running of the Brides: Part 4

The third section was about us street sleepers. I simply listed out the ones sleeping on the street and the "equipment" we would need. I'm going to my dad's this weekend to look at the tent.I just hope that it's easy to put up or else we will be sleeping in chairs and on concrete.


Now just to show you how much my girls love me. My two little cousins are the ones I came with last year so the bride cousin owes me and the other one is racking up points for when she gets engaged. Hehe! My friend, Mermaid, is just along for the ride. She and I go to school together and being that we're both getting married, her this summer, we are able to share wedding advice and help each other out. Now let me preface this next statement by saying that my MOH Court is one of the most beautiful girls in the world. Honestly when we go out I don't even try because she is so gorgeous. The fact that she is willing to come back from her Spring Break at the beach, ride to Atlanta with me and stay and sleep on the street all night speaks volumes. She has informed me however that she has already purchased a battery powered hair straightener so we're good there. Haha love it! Luckily we have a plan so that may not be necessary.

Now onto the second page of my Paper Instruction Manuel goes like this: _______________________________________________________________
Plans:
• Mermaid and MOH Court spend the night with me Wednesday night
• Have stuff packed and ready to go Wednesday night
• Load car by 6:45am
• Leave for ATL by 7:00am CST
• Arrive in ATL by 11:00ish pm EST
• Priscilla of Boston Appointment at 11:00am EST (probably will cancel)
• Check into Hotel by 12:30pm EST and drop off stuff for early morning freshen up.
• Head over to Filene’s Basement to check out set up and set up camp by 1:00pm.
• Wait for everyone to arrive.
• Once adults and littles arrive and get to hotel, get them to come see us on street.
• Get them to bring us dinner.
• Go over the slideshows one more time.
• Adults and girls back to the hotel to rest up for the night. (Now my mom and MOH Jen won't be there till late~like 2AM late~because of dance so they will need to rest up on Thursday)
• Rest on street until AM
• Adults bring us breakfast around 5:00AM
• They hold our spot while we race back to hotel to shower and change and take up the camping gear.
• Come back to street by 6:30 AM just in case they open the doors at 7AM. This has happened before!
• GrandMaDM, GrandMaMM, MOH Jen, Mer and EK to the side of crowd around 7:30am to wait on rush to end and hold mirror. UNLESS we are one of the first ones in line then they can go in with us!
• Go over our meeting place and over the look and size we need.
• At 8AM……RUNNNNN!!!!!!

Can you tell that I'm excited? I will post one more time about the Run, Wednesday night, before we leave. Have you ever planned this extensively for a one day event? "Oh Peyton, you mean like a WEDDING?" Haha!

Running of the Brides: Part 3

So in my last post I told you about our trip to Atlanta last year in search of my cousin's dream dress. Since we were so successful with her venture I decided on the spot that we would be back for my dress next year.

Well it's one week from the run you guys and I am so freaking excited! I can barely stop myself from squealing out every time I think about it. I sent out an email to my pose this morning with the TWO, yes TWO, slide shows about the Run and also a verbal breakdown of it. I told you last time that I was crazy, I mean organized. I wish there was a way to post them on here but you can look for them on the side of my blog. They're really funny and serious at the same time. You have to know my tone to know when I'm joking, either way I go over the top with my slide shows. Below are the word formats that I sent to my girls today. I started this document months ago so that we could get a good look at what was going to happen. The paper Instruction Manuel goes like this:

People Going to Atlanta: For sure Not sure Not going (color coded for my OCD self)
I even have the times they are coming broken down. The colors obviously mark which of the 3 above categories they fit in. Beside their name is their t-shirt size (for their ROTB shirts) and whether they have paid for their shirt and if it was received. Some people ordered shirts even though they and I knew they weren't going to be able to go with us. That's how sweet and wonderful my family and friends are. My FMIL and 2 FSILs are going out of town that week but they still wanted the awesome shirt. And one of my bridesmaids, BM BonBon, got a new job *YAY* a few weeks ago and couldn't take time off till she reached 90 days so that was completely understandable. Below is also a picture of our shirts.

Don't they look great! The guy who I worked with was amazing! Lucky for me he had lived in Atlanta and knew all about ROTB. I was so glad he knew what I was talking about and didn't look at me like an alien when I told him why we needed these shirts. Also the graphic design team worked so well with me adjusting the bride to what I wanted. Can you say PERFECTION!

Now in the second section I listed the Hotel information for the ladies staying in the hotel. I plan on going all out this year, as in sleeping on the street the night before, but I didn't want my two grandmothers, two aunts, two cousins, Mom and little sister on the street too. And it's not because they aren't welcome or snore but because sleeping on the concrete in sleeping bags and chairs. They deserve better since they are all taking time off of work or school or dance to be with me. I even broke down who stayed in what room. Now this can be changed if the bed sleepers want. I don't care about room switching at all. Originally I booked two rooms in the same hotel we stayed at last year. The rate was $129.99 a night which I thought was reasonable. That was until I got an email from Pat Boudrat about a week ago. I didn't pay close attention to it but something in the middle caught my eye. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

MARRIOTT OFFERS SPECIAL RUNNING OF THE BRIDES OVERNIGHT PACKAGE – JUST $99*
You’ve said YES! Now it’s time to run for that perfect dress! We promise fabulous accommodations, just two blocks from Filene’s Basement. Don’t wait, run for chance to snag a great stay and an even better dress! Deluxe accommodations for two; complimentary self-parking for one vehicle, complimentary Swag Bag upon arrival.


Well I may be crazy but not crazy enough to pass up this deal! I immediately called my current hotel cancelled my two rooms there and promptly booked two rooms at the Atlanta Marriott Buckhead Hotel & Conference Center. Not only was it nicer and cheaper than the first hotel but it was closer! WAY CLOSER!

Up next: The THRID, yes 3rd, Section of my paper plans...don't be mad :(

Running of the Brides: Part 2

As they counted down from 10, (I videoed the whole countdown and run) we started to scream! It was so exciting and my adrenaline was rushing like crazy. 3, 2, 1!!! We were off, BUT so were a million other girls! That line we formed quickly broke and we were scattered among the crowd. Gigi got slammed into the glass door, Meredith almost got trampled over, and Whitney almost got thrown out for “going in the wrong door”. We learned that this time around we will pile up in a cluster in the middle and go through with the crowd. You do not want to be on the outside! As I made it through the doors I let my flip cam drop to my wrist and sprinted for the dresses. I wrapped my arms around a group of about 10 gowns and lifted them up. Well the sneaky employees of Filene’s basement knew people would do that and to be fair they swapped the hanger hooks back and forth so they wouldn’t all come off. As I was trying to get them off some lady started ripping gowns from my arms! I’m telling you this is some crazy stuff!

Sifting through the pile of gowns and finding some contenders.

We had already agreed on a “meeting spot” in the store. (You could see inside the store from the parking deck so we scoped it out). Some of our team went straight there so the others could find them and so that Liz had a space to dress. Now as you might have read already, there are no dressing rooms. You undress and dress out in the open in front of everyone. You also have to bring your own mirror! We had gone to Target the night before so we had 2 already! Once my arms were full and I was headed to the meeting spot, I looked back to see that the racks were empty. The racks were cleared in less than a minute! We immediately started sorting through dresses. We would hold them up to Liz and she would say whether to keep them or trade them. Early on in the morning we gave dresses away, not knowing we needed to save some of them to trade. We later learned that we were to always trade for a dress, not empty hands. If we weren’t interested in the dress being offered we said no thanks and kept ours.

See the mirror! Yep BYOM!

Another lesson learned...Size doesn’t matter!!!! We learned this was a key factor. Hot sizes were 8, 10, and 12. (Unfortunately those are the sizes we will need.) We also learned that there were “Drs” there to tell you if you could make a dress fit you or alter it to what you wanted. Once we narrowed it down to a few good dresses we called in the Dr. We could tell by Liz’s face that she wasn’t in love with the dresses she had. A few of us, Wilson, Meredith, Whitney and I kept making the rounds looking for the dress. I passed by a girl wearing a mermaid dress and an “Elizabeth dress” hanging behind her. I asked if she was getting the one hanging and she told me that she probably was. (I wanted to cry) So I told her that if she changed her mind to please bring me the dress, we were in the corner with the orange shirts on. About an hour later she came by and asked if we liked the dress….um what dress? I told her we didn’t have it and she explained that she had given it to some girl in an orange shirt. Well there just so happened to be another group of orange shirted girls there and she mistakenly gave it to them. A few minutes later, Wilson emerged carrying the dress! She got it from some girl that got it from an orange group. As soon as Elizabeth saw it she said, “That’s the dress” She slipped it on and we zipped her up and the tears came flowing down! She said again, “This is the dress!” By this time we were all crying. Oh and another interesting fact, once you find your dress, your whole group screams with joy in unison! We checked it over again and again and it was perfect. Aunt Tamara paid for it and we were out the door!

Now about the ride home, sleep deprivation is killer! I was so exhausted from our journey that I slept almost all of Saturday! This was one of the craziest things I’ve ever done but it was so worth it! I can’t wait for March 18th to get here! I hope you guys are as excited as me! Talk to you soon!

Our trip layout coming soon...

Oh and if you want to see our Run last year just go here.

*All pictures were taken by me or my aunt.

Running of the Brides: Part 1

Okay for those of you who know me, this post won't shock you at all. For those of you who don't, allow me to introduce you to my type A, major control freak, plan everything, organize organize organize, don't mess with my schedule side. As you are about to see I can be a bit over the top when I comes to planning but that's because of my past. (Post to explain that later) I don't like not knowing what's coming up in my life. My planner that I carry around with me daily is packed full of stuff. Small things to huge events, you know like attending Running of the Brides in Atlanta next week. You know just the major points in life. Hehe! Being that the Run is just over a week away I want to start my ROTB series and the only proper way to do that is to start at the very beggining. Did anyone else just hear Julie Andrews in their head? Anyway, here we go...

(Source)

We left on Thursday afternoon, the day before, so we could get up there, eat a great dinner, and get some sleep before the big day. Yeah that sort of happened. We did make it to Atlanta; however we were an hour late to dinner because one of our GPSs took us on a crazy trip through richyrichville. But the food was amazing when we got there so it was a happy story in the end. Once we got back to the hotel, which was only a few blocks away from Filene’s Basement, we made signs, watched a slide show I made about the ins and outs of the day to come, laid out our clothes and hopped into bed…it was 12am! As instructed by the Bride we set our alarms for 1:30am. Yep, about an hour of sleep! No need for showers or makeup, because we didn’t want to get anything on the dresses. I bounced out of bed dancing and singing. We all put on our Auburn Orange shirts, and the bride dressed in her clever outfit (Nike shorts and a strapless bathing suit top) and we were off. Liz, Whit, Mere, Wilson and I.

We took my Gigi’s van so we could all fit and as we pulled up to the building we were in shock. There were people lined up all the way down the block. They were in sleeping bags, tents, chairs, you name it they had it out there. The first two people in line were guys. We later learned that they were the fiancés of some very lucky ladies. I might ask Philip to do this for me but who thinks he will say yes….yeah me neither! So we parked in the parking deck behind Filene’s basement and headed down to the street to get in line. Umm yeah, at 2am we were 2 blocks away from the front door and at the very end of it at that. We sat on the cold ground for what seemed like hours. Before we got there I was honestly worried about our safety but we were well guarded. There were police/security guards everywhere. Oh and side note…they do allow 3 or 4 people in to the store at a time to use the restroom. Elizabeth found 2 girls camped out in there waiting for it to start! Cheaters! The Bride told the guard outside and they were quickly escorted out!

Waiting outside before the doors opened.

So around about 6am the ladies arrived with breakfast, Gigi (my dad’s mom), my Aunt Tamara (Liz, Whit, & Mere’s mom), Ms. Kelly (Wilson’s mom) and one of Aunt Tamara’s friends. The five of us that had been sitting outside in the COLD got into the car in the parking deck while the adults held our spot in line. Around 6:30ish the Filene’s basement people told the “campers” to pack up and form a standing line. Well this is a very key moment. Remember how we were 2 blocks down from the doors. Well during the packing of camp episode we, the stragglers, moved up! Sure we stepped over people still asleep in their sleeping bags and chairs but hey, you snooze you lose! And yes there may have been a verbal argument here or there about cutting in line but who cares. Like they say on the Bachelor, “We weren’t there to make friends. We were there to find the love of our life.” Or in Elizabeth’s case, the dress of her dreams! OH OH OH…and the whole time we were waiting, there was a radio station at the doors. They were doing contest, which I will do if it means I get to go inside an hour early! They were playing music; taking pictures….it was crazy! So around 7:30am the line starting looking like a mosh pit. We were packed in like sardines! We had the idea to hold hands and form like a fence across the line…we learned that was not the best way to go.

Up next: The Countdown!

Work + J.Crew email = Happy Dance at Desk

To follow up my bridesmaid dress post...

After scouring eBay and other various sites including yours truly, I started to think of how I let down BM BonBon and offering to just write her a check for her dress troubles. That was until this morning. After I finished my morning mail I hopped over to J. Crew.com, like I do everyday just hoping to find THE dress. I have my search down to a science. J.Crew.com, sale section, women's, dresses, view up to 90, sort by price, low to high. Well today it was there! Right there in the sale section! I clicked on the Taryn like I do everyday and what to my wondering eyes did appear but a beautiful dress in dusty shale! AND IN ALL THE SIZES I NEEDED!!!! My prayers had been answered! Thank you Lord for finding these dresses in warehouse corners and return shipments.

I immediately called my mom to get her to order my little sister's, MOH Jen, dress. Since she's only 12 years old my mom had to get hers. I talked my mom through the order so she got the right one and at the same time sent out an emergency email to all my girls to tell them to go to the site and order the dress so we would for sure have it. After an agonizing 30 minutes not one person responded to my texts or emails. I was freaking out! Well being the bridezilla, I mean, over cautious bride I am I went ahead and put all of the dresses in their respectable sizes in my cart. Then I saw something even more beautiful. At the top of the page, 30% off of final Sale items + free shipping for orders over $150. Well sign me up! After seeing this there was no stopping me. I called my grandmother to ask her advice on my cousins dresses, got the go ahead from her. My MOH Court called me back and said to get hers and she would pay me back next week. Then the final call. I called my FMIL and asked if I could go ahead and get FSIL's dresses, got the go ahead from her too! With a click click click...I bought 5 dresses regularly priced at $59.99 for $46.19 each! Hell yeah! I am so excited to have this taken care of and now I'm able to focus on next week. What's next week you ask, well it's none other than the famous RUNNING OF THE BRIDES!!! And we're going! Be back soon to write about that adventure!